What Went Right With Crypto AI (And What's Coming Next) With Alexander Good and Travis Good
What Went Right With Crypto AI (And What's Coming Next) With Alexander Good and Travis Good
Podcast47 min 13 sec
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Note: AI-generated summary based on third-party content. Not financial advice. Read more.
Quick Insights

A key opportunity is the new protocol Ambient, a Proof of Work AI network forking Solana, with its testnet launching in two weeks. Another high-conviction project to watch is PostFiat, an AI-enabled "hive mind" for retail investors built as a fork of XRP. In traditional markets, Palantir (PLTR) is highlighted as a strong investment, with its business reportedly growing at 48% annually and serving as a model for applied AI. These opportunities are driven by the core investment theme that Proof of Work is AI, suggesting a shift in value from traditional crypto mining to AI computation. Investors bullish on the Crypto AI narrative should monitor Ambient's testnet launch and PostFiat's dApp development as key milestones.

Detailed Analysis

PostFiat (New Protocol)

  • PostFiat is a new Layer 1 (L1) protocol described as a fork of XRP.
  • Its core concept is to be an AI-enabled "hive mind" for retail investors. The goal is to use AI tools to turn a large group of investors into a powerful, collective intelligence network, similar to the technology used by the company Palantir.
  • The project aims to flip the current AI model on its head. Instead of humans paying AI to do tasks, the protocol is designed for the AI to pay users to complete tasks and gather intelligence, acting as a "commanding officer" for the collective.
  • It is built on a fork of XRP because XRP's architecture is seen as a highly efficient and low-cost "messaging system," which is ideal for the chatbot-like interactions required for the hive mind.
  • A key feature is its validator selection process, which uses an AI consensus mechanism. This is designed to be more decentralized and harder to manipulate than traditional methods, with the speaker noting he himself couldn't even qualify to be a validator on his own network under the AI's rules.

Takeaways

  • PostFiat represents a novel take on the intersection of AI, social coordination, and finance. It aims to create a system where the average participant has a positive expected financial outcome, contrasting with trading platforms where most users lose money.
  • Investors interested in the "Crypto AI" narrative should monitor this project's development, particularly its upcoming testnet and the launch of its "Task Node" dApp, which is how users will contribute to the hive mind.
  • The project's success will depend on its ability to attract a large, active community and prove that its AI-directed hive mind can generate real financial returns ("alpha").

Ambient (New Protocol)

  • Ambient is a new Layer 1 (L1) protocol described as a fork of Solana, but converted from Proof of Stake (PoS) to Proof of Work (PoW).
  • The central thesis is to create a censorship-resistant, permissionless, and trustless AI infrastructure layer that retail investors can own and control, rather than being controlled by large corporations like OpenAI.
  • It is built on a Proof of Work model because the speakers believe current Proof of Stake crypto AI projects have the wrong economic incentives. PoW directly rewards the GPU miners who provide the AI computation, making them owners and controllers of the network and aligning their interests with the network's health.
  • The protocol avoids the "model marketplace" approach, where miners must download many different large models, which is economically inefficient. Instead, it focuses on a limited number of models (Ambient and Ambient Mini) to ensure miners can operate continuously and profitably.
  • Announcement: The project's testnet is launching in two weeks, and they are currently onboarding validators.

Takeaways

  • Ambient is positioned as a direct bet on the idea that the future of Proof of Work is AI. As global capital expenditure flows into AI data centers, a PoW network dedicated to AI could capture a significant amount of that "hash power."
  • This project is a potential investment for those who are bullish on decentralized AI and believe that a "credibly neutral" AI infrastructure, free from corporate or state influence (US or Chinese), will be in high demand.
  • Keep an eye on the upcoming testnet launch. The ability to attract miners and demonstrate the efficiency of its PoW model will be a critical early indicator of its potential success.

Palantir (PLTR)

  • Palantir is mentioned as both a "meme stock" and a serious "business reality."
  • The company is highlighted for its impressive growth, reportedly growing at 48% a year and driving significant revenue.
  • The key to Palantir's success is its ability to create "ontology-based systems" that make Large Language Models (LLMs) truly useful for generating intelligence, something out-of-the-box models fail to do.
  • The business model of Palantir serves as the direct inspiration for the PostFiat protocol, which aims to bring similar "military weapons grade tech" to a collective of retail investors.

Takeaways

  • The discussion presents a very bullish view on Palantir's underlying business model and technology. It is seen as a leader in applying AI to generate actionable intelligence.
  • For investors, this reinforces the idea that Palantir is more than just a "meme stock" and has strong business fundamentals driving its growth. Its strategy is seen as a blueprint for the future of applied AI.

XRP (XRP)

  • XRP is described not as a DeFi platform like Ethereum, but as a highly efficient "messaging system" designed to be a replacement for the SWIFT banking network.
  • Its network is praised for being extremely capital efficient, costing only around $500,000 a year to secure, compared to Solana, which was said to cost $16 million a day.
  • The "XRP Army" is recognized as a powerful "sociocultural movement," demonstrating the power of a strong, engaged retail community.
  • However, the network is criticized for its centralization. The validator list is allegedly influenced by Ripple making large donations to participating universities, creating a "nexus of centralization."

Takeaways

  • Investors should understand XRP's core utility as a low-cost messaging and settlement layer, which is why its architecture was chosen as the foundation for PostFiat.
  • While the technology is efficient, the centralization concerns are a significant risk factor and a key point of debate within the crypto community. Projects forking XRP, like PostFiat, are attempting to solve this perceived weakness.

Investment Theme: Crypto AI

  • The current state of most crypto AI projects is viewed as disappointing, with many in the crypto space being "completely black pilled on AI."
  • A major critique is that most projects use Proof of Stake (PoS), which fails to properly incentivize the GPU miners who are essential for providing AI computing power. This creates a fundamental economic misalignment.
  • A major long-term opportunity exists for a "credibly neutral AI." As users become more aware of the biases in US models (e.g., OpenAI) and Chinese models (e.g., DeepSeek), there will be a large market for a decentralized, unbiased alternative.
  • The speakers identify three levels of public trust in AI:
    1. Level 1 (Current): Trusting AI for personal advice (e.g., relationship advice from ChatGPT).
    2. Level 2 (Future): Trusting AI for financial advice that successfully makes money. The speakers believe we are not here yet.
    3. Level 3 (Long-Term Future): Trusting AI to manage currency systems and consensus mechanisms.

Takeaways

  • The Crypto AI sector is still in its very early stages. The discussion suggests that the winning projects may not be the current leaders, but rather new protocols like Ambient that are built on different economic models (Proof of Work).
  • The long-term bull case for this sector is the eventual demand for trustless and neutral AI infrastructure. As the world becomes more agent-driven, agents will naturally prefer decentralized systems over corporate-controlled "inshittified" ones.
  • Investors should be cautious, as the market has not yet reached "Level 2," where AI is consistently proven to generate financial returns. Success in this area will be a major catalyst for the entire sector.

Other Mentioned Assets

  • Solana (SOL): Criticized for being extremely expensive to maintain, costing $16 million a day, which leads to high inflation and validators selling the token. Ambient is forking its tech but changing the economic model completely.
  • Bitcoin (BTC): Mentioned as the original "sociocultural movement" in crypto. However, its dominance in the mining industry is waning, with its share of TSMC's business falling from 10% to under 2% since 2017. The speaker believes AI-based digital money will eventually outperform it.
  • Ethereum (ETH): Criticized for high transaction fees. The transcript notes that CoreWeave, a major AI company, started as an ETH miner, highlighting the massive pivot of computing resources from crypto mining to AI.
  • BitTensor (TAO): Described as the "AI Bitcoin" but criticized for not being a true Proof of Work coin, leaving a gap in the market that Ambient aims to fill.
  • Worldcoin (WLD): The project's vision is heavily criticized as an "uninspiring" and centralized form of "socialism," where founder Sam Altman acts as a "Xi Jinping" figure distributing tokens as Universal Basic Income.
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Episode Description
AI agents are starting to earn, spend, and redefine what currency means and Post Fiat is building the infrastructure for it. In this episode, Rob sits down with Alexander Good and Travis Good, founders of Post Fiat, to discuss why AI needs proof-of-work, the Palantir playbook for crypto, and how hive minds compound capital together through AI agents. - Post Fiat: Turning Retail Investors Into An Intelligence Network - Ambient: Why AI Needs Proof-of-Work - The Palantir Playbook for Crypto - How Hive Minds Compound Capital Together - Credibly Neutral AI vs. CCP & OpenAI Control - Why GPU Miners Need Different Economics - Compliance, Privacy & Trading With AI Agents Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 00:53 Alex's Post Fiat Announcement: The Vision 04:34 XRP Fork & Messaging System Architecture 08:52 AI as Principal & Humans as Agents (The Role Reversal) 09:23 Travis's Ambient Announcement: Proof-of-Work for AI 16:24 Talus Ad, Relay Ad, Hibachi Ad 17:07 Why AI Needs Proof-of-Work Economics 21:09 Protocol Synergies: How They Fit Together 25:34 Post Fiat's Task Node System Explained 28:14 How Users Contribute & Earn 32:00 Enso Ad, Alvara Ad 32:30 Refactored Task Node Launch Details 33:07 Private Models & Compliance Challenges 35:07 AI-Powered Validator Selection 40:53 Currency Redefined By AI Consensus 42:13 Models as Information Gatekeepers 44:16 Credibly Neutral AI Infrastructure: Why It Matters 44:57 Agents Need Trustless Systems to Operate 46:34 Closing Thoughts Website: https://therollup.co/ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1P6ZeYd... Podcast: https://therollup.co/category/podcast Follow us on X: https://www.x.com/therollupco Follow Rob on X: https://www.x.com/robbie_rollup Follow Andy on X: https://www.x.com/ayyyeandy Join our TG group: https://t.me/+TsM1CRpWFgk1NGZh The Rollup Disclosures: https://therollup.co/the-rollup-discl ๐——๐—œ๐—ฆ๐—–๐—Ÿ๐—”๐—œ๐— ๐—˜๐—ฅ: ๐˜๐˜ฏ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜บ๐˜ฑ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ค๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜‹๐˜ฆ๐˜๐˜ช ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฎ๐˜ด ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฌ๐˜ด ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ญ๐˜ถ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฌ, ๐˜ฉ๐˜ถ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ, ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ง๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ. ๐˜ˆ๐˜ต ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜จ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ, ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜บ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ข ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ข ๐˜ด๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฑ, ๐˜ช๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜บ๐˜ด ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ค๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ณ. ๐˜ž๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ๐˜ถ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฎ, ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ฆ. ๐˜ž๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ด.
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